New renderings of Cherry Creek West show plans for interior ‘shared street’

The firm that will redevelop the west side of the Cherry Creek Shopping Center has released new renderings for the first time in 18 months.

The broad elements of “Cherry Creek West,” which is still more than a year out from breaking ground, remain relatively the same. Developer East West Partners intends to build seven structures ranging from eight to 13 stories, with a mix of office, residential and retail space. There will be open space between them, and an underground parking garage.

All that will replace what is currently a sea of parking and a handful of largely vacant big-box stores.

The new renderings do, however, reflect a couple of ways plans have shifted since late 2021, when Denver-based East West announced it had reached a deal with the owners of the mall and property to embark on the project.

Originally, the plan was for the interior of the 13-acre site to be pedestrian-only. Now, however, there will be a “shared street” network that will allow access to vehicles at some times.

East West Managing Partner Amy Cara addressed the change at BusinessDen’s “The Future of Cherry Creek” event last week.

“The goal is still to be pedestrian-prioritized, and you’ll see some renderings coming out pretty soon that will reflect that,” she said. “It’s still pavers, and a very much an at-grade roll-across pedestrian environment. But now when we’re loading in the farmers market, it’ll be a little more obvious where the cars and trucks go and where they don’t.”

The change will give the project more of a street grid feel than originally planned.

“For some, there are these intangible cues that a street tells you you’re welcome in a place, and this cue of this street, even if it’s not open to cars, will suggest that it’s a place for everyone,” Cara said. “Ultimately we’re liking where it’s evolving, we still get that pedestrian-centric opportunity, but it will have a car feel on occasion.”

Cara said the changes were in part due to discussions with the city.

“When you’re building multiple buildings, you have to think about all the spaces in between,” she said. “As the site that really connects Cherry Creek to its namesake, we really need to think about how people are going to flow through it. We have a lot of ideas about that, the city had some other ideas about that, so we’ve been talking through those components and really trying to get to a middle ground that makes sense for everyone.”

East West expects to apply for the rezoning needed for the project later this year. Cara said Cherry Creek West could break ground in late 2024.